A diagnostically-challenging case of melanoma ex blue nevus with comprehensive molecular analysis, including the 23-gene expression signature (myPath melanoma)

J Cutan Pathol. 2019 Mar;46(3):226-230. doi: 10.1111/cup.13400. Epub 2018 Dec 26.

Abstract

Melanoma ex blue nevus (MEBN) is a rare, aggressive, and potentially lethal neoplasm. Distinguishing MEBN from an atypical cellular blue nevus can be very challenging. We report a diagnostically difficult case of MEBN with lymph node metastases, in which single nucleotide polymorphism array and fluorescence in situ hybridization were used to arrive at the correct diagnosis. It was also analyzed by the recently-introduced proprietary 23-gene expression signature test. To the best of our knowledge, this is the second reported case of MEBN analyzed by the 23-gene expression signature, which provided a false-negative result. More studies are needed to assess the sensitivity and specificity of this test in various melanocytic proliferations.

Keywords: Myriad; SNP array; malignant blue nevus; melanoma; melanoma FISH.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Head and Neck Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Head and Neck Neoplasms / genetics
  • Head and Neck Neoplasms / pathology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Melanoma / diagnosis*
  • Melanoma / genetics
  • Melanoma / pathology
  • Nevus, Blue / genetics
  • Nevus, Blue / pathology*
  • Scalp / pathology
  • Skin Neoplasms / diagnosis*
  • Skin Neoplasms / genetics
  • Skin Neoplasms / pathology